Film Opening Chosen!

Hi blog! Today was a very productive day for my group members and I. We sat down and overall decided on our plot today. This was a very big step because we had been struggling to decide what idea we would actually go with. We decided to chose a suspenseful drama, because we think it would be the most effective in grabbing the readers attention and creating a monumental scene as the opening. We chose the stalker idea, where a girl is overly obsessed with a guy and ends up killing him. We will start the first scene of as the girl burying the body, and then switch it to a flashback of times before he was dead. As of right now, we have decided to do a girl getting ready for a date with the boy. The mom will say something along the lines of how she doesn't feel comfortable with her daughter going out with a guy she has never met before. The daughter says something like "don't worry mom, nothing bad will come out of it." This will tie in the killing to this moment, creating the sense of foreshadowing necessary in order to develop the plot.

The biggest issue I think we face at this point in the project is that we need to develop the entire movie in just the opening. We have to figure out a way to establish the plot in only two minutes! This seems very hard to me, just because there is barely any time. Because of this, we have to focus on developing the right wording in the flashback scene. Through the conversation, we can allude to what happened. From that point on, the rest of the movie can be the entire story between the couple that led up to the murder. I believe this will be the best approach to tackle this obstacle, because it can establish the entire scene with the words.

This week, our main goal is a storyboard. We want to sketch out the first part of the film opening, because we can start researching filming locations and materials needed. Planning is essential, and we  need to focus on this in order to move on with our project. We have a busy week ahead of us!

Film Opening Research Camera Features

Hi blog! Keeping my blog posts for the week in a similar pattern, today we focused on camera features. If we do keep the idea of the film opening, we discussed some of the camera features we should do when filming. We plan on borrowing a camera from Beacon TV, in order to ensure our project is amazing. The way we cut the scene is essential, and we want to do it in the best ways possible.

Throughout the scene, we want to keep all the cuts on movement. This really helps to keep the cuts low-key, and make sure that they are not noticeable. By doing this, we can ensure the audience is not distracted and that the piece flows smoothly. We do not want the cuts to be choppy, unless we show a running scene in the woods. Other than that, we want the cuts to flow well.

Next off, we want to film a lot of the shots from either high or low angles. As she buries the body, we want to film the scene high. This would help to establish the surroundings off the area, and we think it could be filmed through maybe a drone? We also want to shoot some from low angles, to make our actor look powerful and dominant. That would help to develop her character as a stalker, making her seem dominant and obsessive. We do not want to have a lot of cuts, but instead focus on doing long shots and filming the scene from start to finish.

In the flashback, if we do the idea of a collection of clips from the guy, we want to do close ups. That way, the scenes are focused completely on him. It will most likely be in slow motion, providing emphasis to his features. The voice over will explain the clips, but using close ups will be the best method to having this be affective.

These are our baseline ideas for the clips. While I am sure they will change, this is the baseline for the film opening scenes.

Film Opening Sound Ideas

Hey blog, today was one crazy day! No one in my group went to class today, so we did not have much time to plan. I had a huge lacrosse game to prep for, and the other girls had personal things to take care of. However, we still were able to text about the project and figure some stuff out. It's a good thing we are all friends, because it helps us be able to contact one another at random times. We decided since we all were super busy that we should focus on another aspect of the idea and start researching into it. We assumed the easiest would be sound, being that it is a suspense movie. Here are a few of the ideas we discussed.

For sound, we want the voice over discussed in the previous post. We think this is essential to build the suspense wanted in the piece. It helps to keep the focus on the actions off on what the main character is doing, but explain the back story to the events taking place. I think this idea is unique, compared to just having dialogue between characters. It would incorporate well into our piece, and if done right would really be effective.

Similarly, we also want to do suspenseful background music. We will have to choose royalty free music, because neither of us are able to play or write music. However, we want it lightly playing in the back in order to cause an even greater effect. This will not be present for the entire piece, because it will draw somewhat of attention away from the voice over.

Another factor we want to incorporate is the sounds during the flashback. During this part, we want to include some dialogue because it would help us to hit all aspects of a good film opening. 

We didn't do much work today due to our busy schedule, but I think this brainstorming helped us to get organized. We now have a better idea of what we want to accomplish, and I hope we can get more organized from here. 

Mis-en-scene Necessities

Hey blog! Today we had another B day, so my group was able to meet and discuss our film opening. We are not one hundred percent certain on our idea, but we are all leaning towards the one previously discussed. We all think it would be cool to do the ironic stalker movie, but are still brainstorming the best ways to make it work. However, we know a few mutual scenes that we want to include in the piece. Thinking between the scenes, we picked some necessary mis-en-scene that we think would work.

One scene that is essential is the girl burying a dead body. For this scene, we want her dress to be in white. It would show a contrast in the dirt that would be on it from the shovel, and keep the ironic theme present. The white usually represents clean and innocence, both of which is not the scene. As well, it will be done at night with little lighting. We think this would add emphasis to the overall plot, creating the suspense. We want the girl to have a voice over, not directly talking to the camera but only focusing on her actions. Finally, we want to make an emphasis with the makeup. With mascara running all over and lipstick smeared everywhere, we think this would help to create the overall mood of the scene.

Another part we considered adding was an arrange of photos of the "boy" being stalked in the beginning, as sort of a flashback. As we do not know if this will be the exact idea, we know we one hundred percent want a flashback. The lighting will be brighter and the pixels more blurred, emphasizing that the scene is from the past. The voice over will most likely continue here, keeping the film opening constant with technique.

These were our overall ideas discussed for the mis-en-scene ideas for the idea. We are going to keep working on something along the lines of this, and incorporate it into a cool and memorable film opening.

Ideas for Opening

Hey blog! So today in class, we got together as a group to brainstorm ideas. We all have so many unique ideas it's hard to choose a genre! We decided our best bet was to watch film openings from last year that students submitted to Cambridge. From this, we made a list of what we thought worked and didn't work from the observed examples. I think this method was the best approach to start our brainstorming, because we had so many different ideas. After watching five film openings, we were able to completely cut out some ideas. As a group, we decided we wanted to combine both drama and suspense in order to create a memorable movie opening.

From this, we began brainstorming events that are extremely dramatic. We wanted to start the dramatic event in the beginning, and allude to a flashback throughout the movie. We had a hard time at first getting the ideas flowing, because some thoughts were extremely basic. We brought up ideas of kidnappings happening on runs at night, shipwrecks and flashing back into time on a boat, and even a murder. However, all of these ideas were unappealing because they had been done so many times before. We truly want to create something that is memorable to the audience.

As a team, we have not set our mind on an idea. However, we were intrigued by an idea I introduced. I thought it would be cool to do a stalker sort of movie, but put an ironic twist on it. Instead of the common stereotype off a male being a stalker, we would reverse the roles and instead show it from the perspective of a female. The idea seems unique, and no one has brought up something like that in class. We are going to think of ideas tonight and have them ready to introduce next class. I plan on attempting to outline a piece like the one I introduced, but as well come up with more ideas in case this is not the one. Time to go brainstorm!

Genre Debate

     Hi blog! My partners and I are still having a debate over what genre to do. Callie and I both have good ideas for the plot of the movie, but can't choose what genre to focus on! I think we should do a horror suspenseful scene, because it is fun to film and easy to create a unique story. When I watch movies, I always remember the horror genre openings more than I remember other genres. I think if pulled off properly, we could create a memorable film opening with this topic. One horror movie in which I find the opening scene memorable is "When A Stranger Calls." The opening film link is attached below. The reason why I find this memorable is a combination of factors. With the repetitive phone calls combined with the music, even in the first ten minutes I have chills. The director was able to draw the audience in within the first scene, due to the appeal to find out what happens next. With no down time, the film jumps right in, developing a memorable plot in the movie. In an earlier blog post, I attached genre research for a horror movie. I think the director uses all the factors discussed to effectively make a suspenseful movie. Although it is old, it still gives me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrtDLbbUDKE


     On the other hand, Callie wants to do a dramatic film opening. She does not know if she wants it to be more of a drama within teenagers (sort of a coming to age type of movie), or a dramatic movie with a suspenseful buildup in the plot. We do not have any research gathered on this movie type, so I have began looking into characteristic of a dramatic movie. Dramatic movies do not provide as much of a mysterious feel, which in my opinion does not draw in the audience. I looked into watching some film openings for dramatic movies, such as "The Help." (link attached below) Through my research, I found that these movies tend to establish context or introduce characters and events in the opening. In the case of "The Help" the film opening establishes context about slavery and a woman's daily life. It develops her character and explains what she must go through every day in this time period. Another example is "Lady Bird." This film opening also develops context, but a dramatic scene is in the first few minutes as the daughter jumps out of a car. The main purpose of a film opening in the genre of drama is to set the story, in comparison to developing suspense in a horror genre. The drama genre is supposed to be relatable to the audience, showing everyday challenges that people go through but on a bigger scale. While some take on social issues like civil rights, others combine with humor in order to show a soft side to people's problems. Drama is broken up into two main categories, being comedy and tragedy. Both move the audience emotionally, just some movies are more easygoing than others. There are not many factors seen in all dramatic movies, because the categories vary greatly. However, they focus on a main topic of a struggle and issue, and create a relatable plot for the audience. I just personally think the hardest part will be creating an entire plot in only two minutes. However, we have some good ideas for both genres that would work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5oJFP82uto


   With whatever genre is chosen, I think my group will put together an amazing opening to a film. We need to develop soon, because this week we have to start the story board for our project. I don't want us to fall behind, because we all have busy schedules. We plan on working on a story board at the start of next week, and altering it in by the end. We also want to develop a few plots for back up in case the one we try doesn't work. I know it will be hard for me to get it all done because I have multiple lacrosse games this week, but we are going to work diligently in order to make sure our tasks are accomplished.

Blog Post Preparation

     Hi! As the school year nears the end of the quarter, it is time to start the final project. I have been very excited to work on this all year, and have been waiting for this moment. Towards the beginning of the year, my partners and I chose the task of developing a film opening over a magazine. We all thought it would be easier and we would be more successful with the film, because we enjoy watching movies and are familiar with the media industry. My group members are Callie Carpinteri and Sara Joseph. Being best friends, we believe that it will be easy for us to work together and create a successful project to submit to Cambridge.

     In class today, we watched a powerpoint explaining how to write an effective blog post. From explaining the preparation processes, too critiquing our end result, our teacher went over the necessities in which need to be followed. I will be using this blog in order to post my thought process behind the elements chosen for the film opening. At first, I was worried because I am not always the best at explaining in depth why I choose to do specific things. However, after the presentation I am feeling more confident in my abilities to create a well written blog.

     I am going to incorporate the elements discussed in the powerpoint into my own research. I believe it is the most effective way to explain what I am thinking behind my artistic decisions. I plan on posting on this blog four times a week, giving the reader a journey through my media development. I am going to break down my blog posts to keep me on track. As the powerpoint discussed, I will write my posts in the order of preparation, development of the piece, final product, and then critiquing. It has been successful for years prior, so I plan on incorporating this method into my piece.

     My group members and I discussed what our possible genre would be for the film opening today. We all had different ideas we were passionate about. While I thought it would be better to do a suspenseful and mysterious film opening, Callie wanted to do a dramatic plot. We are still in between topics on what genre to do, because we both have good ideas. We gave ourselves a time limit to attempt to figure out our genre by this weekend, so next weekend we can start the storyboard for our film. Overall, I think we had a promising first day. Learning how to properly blog, and starting the genre research for our post, I feel like my team has a good start on the project.